crum, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

crum n.

also crumb

[the diminutive size of the insects, the infestation of the human being]

1. a body louse, usu. in pl.

1848		Bell’s Life in Sydney 26 Feb. 1/4: So I gets cummeser, cos of them are crums you no’s.
1863		O.W. Norton Army Letters (1903) 175: Fortunately, I am not troubled with the ‘crumbs’ now [DA].
1898		Scribner’s Mag. XXIII 440/1: And just then I felt something crawling on my neck. It was a crumb [DA].
1910		‘Ship Out’ in Lingenfelter et al. Songs of the Amer. West (1968) 519: The bunks they are plumb full / Of crums and fleas.
1918		H. Simon ‘Prison Dict.’ in AS VIII:3 (1933) 26/1: CRUMB. Louse. Hence, crumbing up: boiling lousy clothes.
1927		C. Samolar ‘Argot of the Vagabond’ in AS II:9 388: A caboose is called a crummy, from the fact that in the early days of the boomer railroader, cabooses were cursed with crums (lice).
1927		W. Edge Main Stem 23: They ain’t no crums in here now. Hope youse guys ain’t got ’em.
1930		‘Rags’ Roberts ‘The Old Cook County Jail’ in Stiff Milk and Honey Route (1930) 194: Jesus Christ, this is a crum box! This old Cook County Jail [...] If this building wasn’t anchored it would walk around the block; / There are crums enough in here to move old Gibraltar’s Rock.
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl. 30: crumbs, n. Lice.
1944		O. Ferguson ‘Vocabulary for Lakes, [etc.]’ AS XIX:2 110: The words crumb for louse and gray back for a particularly virulent kind I suspect of having origins on the Road.
1946		W.L. Gresham Nightmare Alley (1947) 87: I’ll have to put on a tub of water so they can boil up and get the crums out of their clothes.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 53/2: Crum or Crumb. [...] a body-louse.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 796: crum – A body louse.
1967		(con. 1920s) J. Thompson South of Heaven (1994) 47: A crumb, in the oil fields, is a louse.
1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 219: Seventy years on she would still rage against him: ‘A walking mould. A chancre. A crum’.

2. a filthy person, an objectionable, worthless or insignificant person.

1914		G.D. Chase ‘Navy Sl.’ in DN IV: ii 150: crumb, n. A dirty sailor.
1915		M.G. Hayden ‘Terms Of Disparagement’ in DN IV:iii 198: crumb, an insignificant person.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 168: This old crumb so generally disliked among the better element of the community.
1930		J. Tully Shadows of Men 83: You git that – you bread beggars – you crums.
1932		V.F. Nelson Prison Days and Nights 24: They ought to make every one of the lousy crumbs do a six-month bit.
1944		H. Brown Walk in Sun 109: I treat you like a brother and you stick a knife in my back. He’s a crumb, ain’t he, Judson?
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 62: crum A dirty tramp; one infested with lice.
1953		J. Thompson Alcoholics (1993) 73: I’ve heard of that crum.
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 13: Once in a while [...] some crumb forced a meeting of the local.
1962		P. Highsmith Cry of the Owl (1968) 257: You’re such a heel, you wouldn’t know! You’ve wrecked my life, you crumb.
1964		‘Charles Barrett’ Address: Kings Cross 31: To start with that crumb, Greg, didn’t have a car.
1962		T. Berger Reinhart in Love (1963) 35: Crums like Hector and Willard.
1970		‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 142: I just got so damn tired of being a beaten, stepped-on, crumb.
1989		R. Dahl Rhyme Stew (1990) 15: The cat shouts, ‘Dick, do not succumb / To blandishments from that old crumb!’.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 8: Crumb: An unpopular girl.
2000		B. Wiprud Sleep with the Fishes 74: That crum you just crushed – yeah, his name is Jimmy.

3. a cruel, vicious person.

1944		J. Archibald ‘Defective Bureau’ in Popular Detective 🌐 ‘Desertin’ your wife, you dirty crumb!’ the customer yelped.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 251: Doubtless the crumb who’d mocked him [...] was lolling around some swanky office, cackling [...] about the rube down in Hicksville, Pennsylvania.

4. see crumb n.³

In compounds

crum boss (n.) (also crumb boss) [among his duties was delousing the beds]

(US tramp/Western) a janitor in a construction camp or mission.

1927		‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 443: Crum boss, The janitor of a bunk house.
1930		‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 203: Crum boss – Man who builds fire in the bunk houses.
1945		F.H. Hubbard Railroad Avenue 339: Crumb Boss – Man in charge of camp cars.
1967		(con. 1920s) J. Thompson South of Heaven (1994) 47: I put him down as a crumb-boss.

crumbum

see separate entries.

crumbun (n.)

see crumbum n.

crum-catcher (n.)

(US) a comb.

1942

Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.

Crum Hill (n.)

(US tramp) Jefferson Park, Chicago.

1927		W. Edge Main Stem 194: Give me lil ole West Madison an’ Crum Hill, an’ Bughouse Square (Jefferson Park, Washington Square, respectively).
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 58: Crum Hill. – Jefferson Hill, Chicago ; a favourite gathering place for tramps, and during the summer months infested with vermin.

crum joint (n.) (also crumb joint) [joint n. (3b)]

(US) a second-rate, dirty dwelling-house, bar or club.

1927		C. Samolar ‘Argot of the Vagabond’ in AS II:9 392: If there is a good chance of getting crummed-up (lousy) in a flop-house, it becomes known as a crum-joint.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 227: The first bar was too much of a crum-joint.
1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS 132/2: crumb joint A flop-house infested with lice.

crum roll (n.) [i.e. the assumption/slur being that it is infested with lice]

(US tramp) a bedroll.

1931

Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 58: Crum Roll. – A bed roll or ‘balloon.’.

In phrases

put on a crumb act (v.)

(Aus.) to impose on another person.

1959

Baker Drum.